Underdog status just fine with Ed Herman against Jake Shields at UFC 150

DENVER – Ed Herman has been living up to his “Short Fuse” nickname since a return this past year from a lengthy injury layoff.

The cast member of Season 3 of “The Ultimate Fighter” has been getting in and getting out of his fights quickly during a 3-0 tear, averaging just under 4 minutes a fight with three stoppages – two in the first round.

Yet still, ahead of his UFC 150 main card fight against Jake Shields (27-6-1 MMA, 2-2 UFC) on Saturday, Herman (20-7 MMA, 7-5 UFC) doesn’t seem to be getting much attention – which is just fine with him.

“It’s a huge fight for me, and I want to make a statement,” Herman on Wednesday told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “I always have been the underdog and I probably always will be. I don’t mind flying under the radar a little bit. If I go out there and finish Jake, you’re not going to be able to deny me any longer. I’ll be right there in the mix of things.”

That trio certainly contains no slouches. But Shields is a former Strikeforce champion, the kind of opponent that could seriously elevate Herman’s name with a win.

“I was (telling the UFC), ‘Hey, look, I want a Top 10 guy,'” Herman said. “I feel like I deserve a Top 10 guy to be able to get in there and prove myself. No disrespect to any of the guys I’ve fought, but it’s hard to fight these new guys coming in with good records, they’re dangerous – but nobody knows who they are so it doesn’t give you that much exposure, or much for beating them. So I wanted a guy that I can go in and beat with a big name.”

Shields in February got back into the win column for the first time in more than a year when he beat Yoshihiro Akiyama by unanimous decision at UFC 144. That win snapped a two-fight skid of losses to Georges St-Pierre in a welterweight title fight and a stunning first-round TKO loss to Jake Ellenberger nearly a year ago.

Ellenberger’s win over Shields took him several steps up the welterweight ladder. Herman hopes a win could do the same for him in the middleweight division now that Shields is returning to the weight he was at as Strikeforce’s 185-pound champ.

“Jake’s a guy who, if you can beat, that’s a big feather in your cap,” said Herman, whose training home is in nearby Fort Collins, Colo. “He’s been a top grappler for a long time and a world champion multiple times, so that’s a huge win for me.”

And just how does he plan on getting it done against Shields? For starters, he’s hoping he’ll have a strength advantage. Shields last fought at 185 in April 2010, when he dominated Dan Henderson – save for a rough first round – to defend his Strikeforce title. But when he moved to the UFC in October 2010, it was at welterweight.

“He’s moved back and forth a little bit, and he’s done pretty well at middleweight,” he said. But he’s going to be coming back up and fighting a big, strong athletic guy in myself and I don’t think all that muscle he’s trying to put on is going to help him much.”

UFC 150 takes place at Denver’s Pepsi Center. The main card airs live on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. PT). Prelims air on FX and stream on Facebook.

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